Yu-Gi-Oh: King of Games
by Shoko Yugure
Summary: Yu-Gi-Oh re-imagined. Follow the young Yugi Mouto as he is taken on an amazing journey involving gods, monsters, and Ancient Egypt. To think, it all started with a puzzle... (Rating subject to change)


The sun began to slowly reveal itself from beneath the horizon. It was the start of a new day in Domino City. It would also be a new and chaotic day at Domino High. Not necessarily for the entire school, but rather for a single boy. As the sun continued to rise, a rather popular store known as Mouto's game shop was about to open. The shop, as implied by its name, was the popular spot to buy board games and trading cards. The shop has been running strong for thirty years in total, and continues to rise in popularity, despite it being a small business.

The man who kept the shop running was none other than Sugoroku Mouto. He was a short round man in his late sixties, with dark brown skin and a salmon pink suit with green overalls. He was sweeping the floors and tidying up the shop so that it would look decent before it opened. He looked up at the time to find that it was 4:59 a.m. Sugoroku put a small smile on his face. He knew what time it was. It was time to wake his grandson from his slumber. He set the broom against the wall and began walking up the stairs to his grandson's room.

The room itself was painted in green, and it was a perfect square room. There was a single window along with a working desk right in front of it, a closet with only a single blue jacket for school. The bed itself was a full sized bed with a sheet, blanket, pillow, and a sleeping teenage boy on it. The boy himself was short in stature, but still ten centimeters taller than his grandpa. He had red spiky hair, with blonde bangs just lying against his forehead. Unlike his grandfather, the boy was thin, and pale. As the young boy slept, Sugoroku knocked on the boy's bedroom door.

"Rise and shine Yugi!" said Sugoroku. "You have to get ready for school today!"

At the mention of school, the boy named Yugi jumped out of bed and hurried to get dressed. He was currently wearing green pajamas and bunny slippers. He quickly took off his slippers and began to undress himself. Once that was done, he hurried to his dresser and grabbed a black sleeveless shirt and put it on. He then acquired some black pants and put them on before putting on a black belt. Yugi always wondered why he wore so much black. But he didn't have time to think about it now. He had to get ready for school. He ran to his closet and opened it. He spotted his blue jacket for and put it on. His school uniform was now complete. Now he needed to gather his items. He grabbed his backpack and opened it up. He put in it a total of three notebooks, two binders, and a deck of cards. He suddenly stopped. He set his backpack down and walked to his work desk. He opened the top right drawer and pulled out his prized possession. A box. The box was a rectangular shape and it was coated in pure gold. In the middle of the front of the box, there was a golden Egyptian eye, and along the sides of it was writing that said "Solve my puzzle, and the dark power within will be yours". Yugi opened the box to reveal numerous puzzle pieces, along with an incomplete puzzle. When completed, the puzzle would take form as a third dimensional rectangular pyramid. Yugi first acquired this puzzle for his birthday six years ago, and ever since then, he'd been working on the puzzle whenever he could. He already completed the flat base and two of the three sides. He just needed to complete the front side and the puzzle would finally be complete. Yugi closed the box and put it in his backpack before stepping out of his room and going down the stairs to his grandpa, who was holding Yugi's lunch.

"And here I thought you'd never get out of bed," said Sugoroku.

"Sorry Grandpa," said Yugi. "I was just getting ready."

"You were looking at the puzzle again weren't you?" asked Sugoroku.

Yugi looked down and nodded, slightly ashamed of himself. Sugoroku simply chuckled a little and ruffled Yugi's hair.

"It is alright Yugi," said Sugoroku. "I hope you solve it soon. I have faith in you. Now hurry, Anzu is waiting a few blocks down."

Yugi's face brightened and he hurried out of the door. Anzu was Yugi's childhood friend, and Yugi enjoyed spending time with her. Yugi kept running through the area until he stopped at an intersection a few blocks away from his home. He glanced around, looking for Anzu. He began to grow worried when he couldn't find her. Suddenly, he heard a female voice call to him.

"Yugi!" the voice yelled. "I'm over here, Yugi!"

Yugi turned around to find none other than the girl he was looking for, Anzu. Anzu was a rather tall girl, with pale skin, light brown hair that looked red under the sunlight, and beautiful blue eyes. She was wearing her school uniform, which consisted of an orange blouse and a dark blue skirt. She smiled a beautiful smile as she was waving at Yugi. As the years had been passing, Yugi admittedly grew very attached to Anzu. He would always feel just a little brighter every time she smiled at him. He'd always turn red every time she complimented him, and he grew to like Anzu as someone more than a friend. He would always debate on whether or not he should tell Anzu how he felt about her. He usually decided against it because he was afraid that she would reject him and move onto someone tall and athletic. But, at this moment, he wasn't thinking about that. He was running up to Anzu, and did what he always did when they met to go to school; Yugi jumped up and hugged Anzu. Anzu would always chuckle at this and hug Yugi right back. Yugi let go of Anzu and looked up at her.

"Good morning Anzu," Yugi said in a more upbeat tone. Anzu's brown hair flew with the gentle breeze, and Yugi was once again mesmerized by Anzu's beauty. Anzu brushed her hair back as she replied to Yugi.

"Good morning to you too Yugi," she replied. "You ready for school today?"

Yugi nodded hastily and Anzu couldn't help but giggle. She then did something she didn't do before when she walked with Yugi; she held his hand in hers as she walked with him. Yugi's eyes widened a little from this unusual gesture. Yugi began blushing as the two of them started walking to school. The walk itself was relatively quiet. Nothing eventful went on, and aside from some small talk, Anzu and Yugi didn't really discuss anything important. Throughout the entire walk, Yugi and Anzu held hands. This never happened before, so why was it happening now? Well, like Yugi did with Anzu, Anzu herself grew an attachment to Yugi. She felt like she genuinely loved Yugi. But, just like Yugi, Anzu kept these feelings hidden from fear of heartbreak. Once the two of them arrived at the school, they stopped at the door and looked at one another.

"Here we are," said Anzu.

"Yeah..." said Yugi. Anzu turned and faced Yugi.

"I'll see you after school Yugi. We need to talk about something."

With that Anzu kissed Yugi's cheek before heading to class. Yugi was glowing red and his eyes widened in surprise. He put a hand on the kissed cheek before leaving for class. He made a vow to never wash his face again.

...

The school bell was about to ring, and classes were about to come to an end. The teacher had allowed Yugi's class to have the last five minutes of class to themselves. Yugi decided to grab his stack of cards. He shuffled them a few times and decided to try and make a house of cards. He made the base out of the hearts. He then slowly made his way up. He was about to finish when he heard a small voice echo within his mind.

" _Solve my puzzle and the dark power within will be yours_ ," said the voice. The voice would repeat this statement multiple times. Yugi held his head, groaning. He wanted the voice to stop. He kept groaning while the voice started to get louder. It grew louder and louder with every single word it spoke, until Yugi heard a voice outside his head speak in a worried tone.

"Yugi?" the voice asked. Yugi jolted his head upwards to find Anzu looking at him with a very worried expression on her face. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, don't worry Anzu," said Yugi. "It's just a headache."

Worried, Anzu placed a hand on Yugi's forehead to check for a fever. It felt normal to her. Yugi's face turned bright red as Anzu's silky smooth hand rested on Yugi's forehead before it moved back.

"Well, you feel normal," said Anzu. "Alright, just try and be careful, okay?"

"Of course," said Yugi in an affirmative tone. Anzu smiled her beautiful smile before walking away and going to talk to some other girls. Yugi was suddenly deep in thought about his puzzle. He glanced around before taking his backpack and opening it. He then took out the golden box that held his puzzle. He was just about to open it when a tall blonde man suddenly snatched up the puzzle. The man was wearing the male's school uniform. He had green eyes and light skin.

"Well well well, hello Yugi," said the male. "What's this you got here?"

"Jonouchi!" yelled Yugi. "Give that back!"

Yugi tried to reach for it, but Jonouchi simply lifted the box higher. Yugi silently cursed his small height. He kept jumping up and trying to reach it, but Jonouchi was simply too tall. At that moment, another boy walked towards them. This boy had brown hair that pointed straight up, and his skin was a little darker than Jonouchi's. He looked over at Jonouchi.

"Jonouchi, just what are you doing?" asked the boy.

"Oh, hey Honda," said Jonouchi. "I'm just teasing Yugi over here."

"Give me back the puzzle!" yelled Yugi. "Please!"

"Nah," said Jonouchi. "You need to toughen up."

Suddenly, both Jonouchi and Honda froze. They felt cold chills run down their spine as they felt an angry presence coming from right behind them. They didn't want to turn around. They were not going to turn around. Not on their watch. Yugi could see why they wouldn't turn around. For, standing right behind them with an aura of fury, was none other than Anzu. She grabbed both Jonouchi and Honda by the ear and pulled down. Both Honda and Jonouchi were crying out in pain.

"Are you two done harassing Yugi?" asked Anzu.

"It ain't harassment!" yelled Jonouchi as he yelped in pain.

"I didn't even do anything!" yelled Honda.

Anzu simply pulled harder. Jonouchi and Honda continued to yell out in pain. Yugi felt like he should intervene, but he knew better than to confront an angry Anzu. Anzu looked over at Jonouchi.

"Give Yugi back his puzzle. NOW!"

"Alright! Alright!" yelled Jonouchi. He dropped Yugi's puzzle onto the desk. Yugi quickly grabbed it, and Anzu let go of Jonouchi and Honda's ears. They rubbed their ears in pain and walked away from the couple-to-be. Yugi looked over at Anzu.

"Thank you Anzu," said Yugi. Anzu smiled at Yugi as if the incident a few seconds ago never happened.

"You're welcome Yugi," she said. She sat down next to Yugi and looked at the box. "Tell me about the puzzle."

"Anzu, I already told you what I know. Millions of times in fact."

"Aww come on, Yugi," begged Anzu. "Please! Pretty pwetty pwease?"

Yugi couldn't help but chuckle. Anzu was just too adorable to refuse.

"Alright, I'll tell you," said Yugi. He sat the box down on his desk. "The puzzle is a mysterious artifact from Egypt. A long time ago, it was said that a powerful Pharaoh ruled over Egypt and battled a great evil. It is said that he contained the evils in seven items. The inscription on this box reads 'Solve my puzzle and the dark power within will be yours'. Several archeologists tried to acquire the puzzle, and they all ended up mysteriously dying. Somehow, Grandpa managed to get it and gave it to me for my birthday. Since then, I've been trying to solve it. I'm almost done with it. When it's done, I could get what I always wanted."

Anzu smiled. She absolutely loved the sound of Yugi's voice. It was like a dove singing a beautiful song to attract a mate. Anzu used every ounce of her willpower to stop herself from kissing Yugi. She looked at the clock, and the bell suddenly rang. Class was over.

"Oh, well class is over," said Anzu. "Hey Yugi, you want me to walk you home?"

Yugi was surprised. Anzu hadn't offered to walk Yugi home in a long time. Although, that was primarily Yugi's fault. He had been so insistent that he could make it home safely that Anzu just stopped asking entirely. Now that Anzu asked Yugi once again, he nodded quickly, and Anzu couldn't help but giggle.

"Alright then, let's go," said Anzu. She grabbed Yugi's hand and they walked out of the school after Yugi put his cards and puzzle away. As they walked out of the school, Jonouchi and Honda were making their way out of the building when they were confronted by Ushio. Ushio was a bigger bully than Jonouchi, literally. He was about seven feet tall, and he was about 250 pounds of pure muscle. He looked down at the dynamic duo with a smug look on his face.

"I couldn't help but notice you twerps had been bullying Yugi during class today," he said. "Don't you know that bullying is not tolerated within school grounds?"

"Oh I'm sorry, who promoted you to rulemaker of the day?" asked Jonouchi.

Ushio glared at Jonouchi and pushed between Jonouchi and Honda.

"I'll let it slide for now, but I will teach you punks a lesson, one way or another," Ushio threatened before turning left and leaving the building. Jonouchi and Honda just looked at each other before leaving the building as well. It was at that moment that Jonouchi reached into his pocket and took out a piece of Yugi's puzzle. He managed to take it while Anzu was basically ripping his ear off. He clenched his fists and was about to throw it in the water, but he stopped. Why did he stop? Why couldn't he just finish it? Because he heard a small voice in the back of his head. The voice told him not to throw the piece. Jonouchi tried to ignore the voice, but it only grew louder. Jonouchi clenched his fists and his teeth before taking a deep breath and putting the puzzle piece back in his pocket before walking home with Honda.

Meanwhile, on the walk with Yugi and Anzu, Yugi had a question for Anzu.

"Hey, Anzu?" he asked.

"What is it Yugi?" asked Anzu.

"Before we went to class, you said that you wanted to talk about something. What did you want to talk about?"

Anzu's face grew red. She completely forgot that she said she wanted to talk about something important. Now that she remembered what it was, she was a bit embarrassed. She planned on discussing her feelings for Yugi, but she thought up a lie and thought it up quick.

"I-I was going to ask how your grandpa was doing," she lied. "Yeah, that's it."

"Oh," said Yugi. "Grandpa has been doing pretty good. Especially at his age. Hey, since we're already going to the shop, how about you say hi to him when we get there?"

"Sure," said Anzu. They both began walking to Mouto Game Shop, thinking about how adorable their partner looked. Soon, they both arrived at the game shop. Yugi opened the door and looked around.

"Grandpa, I'm home!" he yelled, and soon enough, Sugoroku popped up from behind the register.

"Yugi! Welcome back," said Sugoroku. He then noticed Anzu and smiled a little. "Welcome back Anzu. It's good to see you again."

"You too, sir," said Anzu.

"No need for the 'sir' nonsense," answered Sugoroku with a shake of his head. "You can just call me Sugoroku. Hell, I'll even let you call me Grandpa."

"Really?" asked Anzu.

"Absolutely!" said Sugoroku. "I always considered you a part of the family. Now come over here and give this little old man a hug."

Anzu was a bit hesitant on the hug, but she happily obliged and embraced Sugoroku. Sugoroku smiled and returned the embrace. It was a brief hug, but a hug nonetheless. Once they parted, Sugoroku smiled and walked back to behind the desk.

"Alright, I have to get back to work now," said Sugoroku. "You two studying together?"

"No, I was just walking Yugi home," said Anzu. She then turned to Yugi. "I'm going home now. I won't be able to pick you up because my father is driving me to school. Sorry Yugi."

"It's alright Anzu," said Yugi.

"Thanks for understanding Yugi," said Anzu. She kissed Yugi's cheek, waved goodbye to Sugoroku, then left the building. Yugi turned to see Sugoroku suddenly grasping Yugi's shoulders and shaking him.

"Why have you not married the woman yet?!" yelled Sugoroku.

"Grandpa, we're still in school!" said a dazed Yugi.

"What does that have to do with it? I didn't let that stop me when I married your grandmother," Sugoroku stated a little too proudly. Yugi quickly ran up to his room before Sugoroku could tell the story of how he married Yugi's grandmother.

...

The next morning, Yugi was walking to school by himself, as Anzu was being driven to school by her father. Yugi was actually going to school a bit early, because he wanted a bit of time before school so he could work on his puzzle. When he arrived at school grounds, he heard some noises on the left side of the school. He walked to that area and widened his eyes in shock and horror. Beaten and bruised, were Jonouchi and Honda, while standing above them with blood stained knuckles, was Ushio. He turned and spotted Yugi before smirking.

"Well, if it isn't Yugi," said Ushio. "It's nice of you to finally join us."

"What did you do to them?!" yelled Yugi. Ushio chuckled.

"I merely punished them," he said. "Bullying isn't tolerated in my school."

"You're a bigger bully than they are!" Yugi yelled. "I can't let you hurt my friends anymore!"

At hearing this, Jonouchi looked up at Yugi, shocked by his statement.

"Friends?" Jonouchi thought to himself. "After everything we did to him, he views us as his friends? What's with this kid?"

Ushio let out a hearty laugh before picking Yugi up and pinning him against the wall. Yugi's eyes suddenly widened as he felt a sharp pain in his lower back and felt a cold liquid running down that area. It turned out that Ushio pushed Yugi against a sharp piece of broken pipe, and it struck Yugi's lower back. Tears streamed down Yugi's face as Ushio threatened Yugi.

"Here's what's going to happen you little shit," said Ushio. "You're going to give me two hundred thousand yen for doing this little favor, or I will personally go to that shitty game shop of yours and simply take the money off the corpses of you and your grandfather."

Ushio dropped Yugi and walked away. Honda slowly looked up and saw that Yugi was bleeding. Immediately he ignored his own injuries and ran to Yugi's side

"Hang on Yugi!" yelled Honda. "Give me just a minute!"

Honda tore off the sleeve of his school uniform and used it as a bandage before applying pressure to the wound. It was at this moment that Jonouchi began to stand up. Once he saw Yugi, he ran to his side as well.

"Jonouchi, go to the car!" yelled Honda. "We have to take Yugi to the hospital, he doesn't have much time!"

Jonouchi nodded and ran as quickly as possible. Honda soon followed while carrying the unconscious Yugi. Jonouchi started the car while Honda put Yugi in the car before running back and grabbing Yugi's things before entering the car.

"Drive Jonouchi!" yelled Honda. Jonouchi floored it to the hospital, ignoring the traffic and whatever police officers were in the area. Once they arrived at the hospital, they both quickly rushed into the ER and called the attention of the nearest doctor.

"Yugi's hurt! He needs help!" yelled Jonouchi. The doctor rushed to Yugi.

"What happened?" asked the doctor.

"Something punctured his lower back just behind the ribcage. He's losing blood," explained Honda. The doctor nodded and rushed Yugi to a hospital room. Jonouchi and Honda sat down in the waiting room and let out a sigh.

"So, who's going to be the one to tell Anzu?" asked Jonouchi.

"I sent her a text on the way here," said Honda. "She'll contact Yugi's grandfather and let him know where Yugi's at."

"How are you suddenly aware?" asked Jonouchi. "You usually just stare off into space or dream about liking a girl."

"My father's a doctor," said Honda. "He taught me pretty much everything he knew about the medical field. I felt his teachings could be put to use one day. Seems I was right."

Later that day, the doctor said that Yugi would be okay, but they were going to keep him overnight just to be safe. Anzu and Sugoroku both scolded Jonouchi and Honda, but they were grateful to them that they got Yugi safely to the hospital. The sun was beginning to set and the doctors put Yugi Into a medically induced sleep. The doctor opened the door to the hospital room and allowed Jonouchi to enter and stay with him. Jonouchi sat down beside Yugi.

"Hey Yugi," said Jonouchi. "Just wanted to talk to ya. I know you're asleep and all, but I just needed to say this. I...I'm sorry. The only reason I kept on bullying you was so you could toughen up and learn to fend for yourself. I never wanted any of this to happen."

Jonouchi sighed as he put Yugi's puzzle box on Yugi's lap. He then took the puzzle piece that he took and put it in Yugi's hand. Jonouchi stood up and left the room, leaving Yugi to rest.

A few hours later, Yugi woke up and rubbed his eyes before looking down at his hand to find the last puzzle piece.

"The last piece!" he said. He grabbed the box and opened it to reveal the puzzle almost completed. It just needed one last piece. Yugi picked up the puzzle, then took a deep breath. "I...wish...I wish for friends."

With that, Yugi put the piece where it was supposed to go, and the Millennium Puzzle was completed. The puzzle began to glow, and a golden ray shot straight to Yugi's brain. It was at that moment that Yugi saw numerous images in his mind moving too fast to process. The only ones he could make out were a large red dragon with two mouths, and a magic user in black. Yugi fell unconscious from the sudden rush.

A golden eye appeared on his forehead, then he opened his eyes, which turned blood red, and a dark smile crept onto his face.

 _"It's game time."_

 _/Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh: King of Games. The first shadow game!_


End file.
